RKO Radio Pictures
Hildegarde Withers Mystery Collection
The Penguin Pool Murder
New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium.
- Original title
- The Penguin Pool Murder
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Dec 3, 2023 · via TMDB
There is something Marple-esque about Edna May Oliver's portrayal of the meticulous, no-nonsense, schoolteacher "Miss Withers". There's also something hideous about some of the fish in the aquarium where the police discover the corpse of the pretty universally disliked "Parker". It turns out that his wife (Mae Clarke) has a boyfriend (Donald Cook), and that both were present at the time of death. Looks like a bit of a no-brainer for "Insp. Piper" (James Gleason) but his chance meeting with the razor-sharp mind of the prim and proper "Withers" soon makes him think again. Despite his initially polite disdain, he realises that she is quite an insightful assistant as this turns out to be anything but as straightforward as everyone had hoped. The mystery itself is also very much in the vein of Agatha Christie - loads of red herrings and a victim about as popular as toothache. The production is kept moving along by some pacy direction and some pithy banter between the two investigators. Will they get to the bottom or not? Never in doubt, but not really important - this is a drama about characters and Oliver and Gleason gel well and engagingly for seventy minutes of sparring, spatting and... solving.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Edna May Oliver
Hildegarde Withers
James Gleason
Police Insp. Oscar Piper
Robert Armstrong
Barry Costello
Mae Clarke
Gwen Parker
Donald Cook
Philip Seymour
Edgar Kennedy
Officer Donovan
Clarence Wilson
Bertrand B. Hemingway
James Donlan
Security Guard Fink
Gustav von Seyffertitz
Von Donnen
Guy Usher
Parker
Rochelle Hudson
Telephone Operator
Wilfrid North
Judge
Edith Fellows
Little Girl at Aquarium (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton
Jack, Policeman (uncredited)
Mary Mason
Parker's Secretary (uncredited)
Sidney Miller
Isadore Marks (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon
Purse Snatching Victim at Aquarium (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton
Stunts
George Archainbaud
Director
David O. Selznick
Executive Producer
Max Steiner
Music Director
Max Steiner
Original Music Composer
Willis Goldbeck
Screenplay
The strange case of detective Jones
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Dec 9, 1932
Jul 23, 2013
DVD
